December 5, 2011 e-newsletter Please do not reply to this email. The box is not monitored.

SBL Council Statement

The SBL Council issued a statement at the Annual Business Meeting, on Sunday November 20, reporting to members on the ongoing discussion regarding the nature and identity of our Society.
That statement is available here.

SBL Affiliates

According to the SBL Constitution, Article IX, "it shall be within the jurisdiction of Council to affiliate with organizations whose aims are deemed consonant with the Society." In its 2011 fall meeting, the SBL Council approved new guidelines for reviewing Affiliate status. These are available here.

SBL Year-end Summaries

Please see two important reports on SBL's year in review and financial position.

Book Sale
Almost all new, recent, and backlist SBL and Brown Judaic Studies titles are available to SBL members at a 30% discount during the Annual Meeting Fall Sale.

Download the order form, then mail or fax your order by December 15. If you prefer to order by phone or at the SBL Store, make sure to use the promo code FL2011 at checkout to receive your discount.

Survey and Summary
Annual Meetings 2011 San Francisco, the concurrent annual meetings of SBL and AAR, was a resounding success based upon the feedback you have provided. If you registered for the meeting, you should have received an email about completing the post-conference survey. Please ensure that you do so. Thanks to the sponsors, exhibitors, participants, registrants, staff, and others who contributed to the meetings' success!

Registration for the Annual Meetings 2012 Chicago will open in January. We hope you are already making plans to join us November 17-20, 2012!

Membership and Subscriptions

It was wonderful meeting so many members in person! We currently have close to 8800 active members in the Society.

MEMBERSHIP: Optional Profile Winners: Every month, we randomly select two members from the pool of those who have filled out the Optional Profile for a free one-year membership. The December 2011 winners are:

Ed Noort
Donald Kristiansen

As our privacy policy indicates, we will never divulge information from your profile to a third party. Thank you to all of you who have supplied this optional data. If you have not yet filled in the information (or you would like to update it), you may do so by logging into our website with your SBL Member number and going to the "my profile" tab, which will appear on the left hand side of the screen in the box where you logged in. While you are filling out the Optional Profile, please make sure all of your profile information is up to date!

SUBSCRIPTIONS: The Journal of Biblical Literature is the flagship journal of the field. It is published quarterly and includes scholarly articles and critical notes by members of the Society. Essential reading for over a century, it is now available online and in print.

In order to receive the printed the issue 131:1 of The Journal of Biblical Literature ( the first issue of 2012) your subscription and payment must be received no later than February 15, 2012. The subscription form can be found at: http://sbl-site.org/assets/pdfs/JournalSubscriptions.pdf .

You can print the form, fill it out and mail it with your payment or payment information to 825 Houston Mill Road, Suite 350 Atlanta , GA 30329. Or, you can fax it to 404-727-2419. If you prefer you can renew your subscription online by logging into the website at http://www.sbl-site.org/membership/joinnow.aspx and following the directions.

Society Fund

We would like to extend a special thank you to our contributors and volunteers. Your support to the Society is vital to the success of our programs, annual and international meetings. If you have not made your 2011 donation to the Society Fund yet – click here to visit our website.

International Cooperation Initiative

Visit the SBL web site to read about an American scholar's teaching experience in Fiji—and how you, too, can find remarkable ways to interact with biblical scholars around the globe.

A program of ongoing training at the Pontifical Biblical InstituteThe Pontifical Biblical Institute begins a program of ongoing training for researchers in, and teachers of, Sacred Scripture in Faculties of Theology and other institutions of learning. More information

1/27

Deadline: Call for Papers
For the first annual conference of Hekhal: The Irish Society for the Study of the Ancient Near East
Hekhal is an academic association established by four graduates and postgraduates of Trinity College Dublin. The society's primary aim is to facilitate rigorous research in Ireland in the fields of Biblical Studies, Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies, Archaeology and Historiography, towards a more comprehensive understanding of the Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern worlds and their texts.

The conference title is "The Other Temples". The role of the temple cult is extremely important for Judaism despite Deuteronomic centralisation never being fully realised. As such, other Jewish temples may offer a fruitful area for discussing the development of Judaism in the Ancient Near East. We are therefore calling for papers dealing with temple ideology and its material culture in the context of temples other than the one in Jerusalem, whether those be real ones such as Elephantine, Leontopolis or Gerizim, or conceptual ones like the Qumran Yahad or the new Jerusalem in Revelation. The committee would hope to receive submissions on topics as diverse as diaspora Judaism, early Christianity, Qumran, early Samaritan studies, and any other historiographic and/or archaeological fields of research referencing these paradigms.

We invite abstracts of under 500 words to reach us by email no later than 27 January 2012. Late submissions will not be considered. Abstracts for presentation shall be selected by peer review. The committee intends to publish the proceedings within a peer-reviewed and edited volume. Contributors should therefore only submit abstracts for publishable, original work.
Abstracts should be emailed to: hekhal.dublinia@gmail.com

Deadline: Call for Papers
"Religion in Pieces" An Interdisciplinary Conference Sponsored by the Society for Ancient Mediterranean Religions, Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World at Brown University, April 27-29th, 2012

The quest to determine the contours and contents of ancient religion has always been a largely constructivist endeavor, subject to the exigencies of preservation. How do we, in our respective fields, approach the problem of fragmentary evidence? How do we construct such elusive categories as "belief" or "ritual" or "praxis" from an insufficient, scattered, or occasionally inscrutable base of primary source materials?

The Society for Ancient Mediterranean Religions seeks papers for a conference to be held at Brown University, April 27-29th 2012, on the topic, "Religion in Pieces." In keeping with the society's broad interests in religions of the Mediterranean basin over the great chronological expanse from prehistory to late antiquity, we seek contributions from scholars in the fields of Classics, Ancient History, Religious Studies, Archaeology, Near Eastern Studies, Egyptology, and Art History. We are particularly interested in papers that present case studies in reconstructing religious practice from fragmentary evidence, or which problematize or lay out the methodological challenges inherent in constructing religion from a paucity of sources. Relevant subfields include (but are not limited to) papyrology, codicology, archaeology, and textual studies of fragmentary or poorly attested sources; especially welcome are transdisciplinary papers which synthesize a variety of textual, archaeological, and art historical and/or material culture sources.

We invite abstracts from 250-500 words, accompanied by a curriculum vitae, to socamr@gmail.com. Deadline for submission is midnight of January 28th, 2012. Participants will be contacted with an invitation to participate by the beginning of March, 2012.

Digital Humanities Workshop
The Program in Judaic Studies in collaboration with the Brown University Library's Center for Digital Scholarship is pleased to announce plans for a two-day workshop devoted to investigating the ways in which the digital humanities has or can change the study of religion in antiquity. The workshop will take place on February 13-14, 2012, at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.

We invite proposals for papers and presentations that explore the intersection of ancient religion and the digital humanities. We are particularly interested in presentations of projects that have the potential to open up new questions and avenues of research. Can digital tools not only allow us to do our work faster and more thoroughly but also enable entirely new kinds of research? How might different digital data (e.g., textual, geographic, and material culture) be used together most productively? The workshop will concentrate primarily on research rather than directly on pedagogy or scholarly communication. One session will be devoted to "nuts and bolts" issues of funding and starting a digital project.

The focus of the workshop will be on the religions of West Asia and the Mediterranean basin through the early Islamic period. Proposals relating to other regions, however, will also be considered.

Call for Papers DeadlineThe 2012 European Association of Biblical Studies Graduate Symposium will bring together PhD candidates and post doctoral researchers from a variety of subfields relating to biblical studies. The symposium will be held in Hamburg, Germany. As always, senior scholars will attend the event. In 2012, EABS president Jorunn Økland (University of Oslo) and Dr Diana Edelman (University of Sheffield) are going to attend. There will be a joint session with graduate students from the University of Alberta, organised with Professor Ehud Ben Zvi. The format of the event is a small, residential gathering, which will allow for extended discussion, networking, and in-depth feedback. Graduates are invited to present a paper, run a workshop session, lead a round-table discussion or use any other format they see fit to present their topic.Candidates should submit their abstracts of no more than 300 words to f.uhlenbruch@derby.ac.uk no later than February 15th, 2012. Please mention the preferred format in the abstract (i.e. paper, workshop, pre-circulated paper, discussion etc.) and whether you are going to need a 30 minute or a 45 minute time slot.
More information

March 2012

3/1

Deadline: Call for Papers
"Paul's Letter to the Galatians & Christian Theology", University of St Andrews' Fourth Triennial Scripture & Theology Conference St Andrews, Scotland. Conference date: 10-13 July
We invite proposals for short papers that relate Galatians to Christian theology and culture including: Galatians and Art; Christian Doctrine; Ethics; The Hisotry of Interpretation; Eschatology; Jewish and Christian Readings of Galatians. Abstracts of not more than 300 words should be sent to galatians@st-andrews.ac.uk.
See keynote speakers list under the conference July entry.More information >>>

2012 European Association of Biblical Studies Graduate SymposiumHamburg, Germany
The event will bring together PhD candidates and post doctoral researchers from a variety of subfields relating to biblical studies. As always, senior scholars will attend the event. In 2012, EABS president Jorunn Økland (University of Oslo) and Dr Diana Edelman (University of Sheffield) are going to attend. There will be a joint session with graduate students from the University of Alberta, organised with Professor Ehud Ben Zvi. The format of the event is a small, residential gathering, which will allow for extended discussion, networking, and in-depth feedback. Graduates are invited to present a paper, run a workshop session, lead a round-table discussion or use any other format they see fit to present their topic.More information

The 8th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East
The conference will be held in Warsaw, Poland. It will be organised jointly by the Polish
Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology University of Warsaw and Institute of Archaeology University of Warsaw.More information

May 2012

5/2- 5/5

Creation, Conflict and CosmosA conference on Romans 5- 8 in celebration of Princeton Theological Seminary's Bicentennial
Presentations will be offered by an outstanding group of international scholars, including:

Association of Ancient Historians (AAH)
The annual meeting in 2012 will be held May 3-6 and will be jointly hosted by Duke University and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. The primary organizers are Mary Boatwright (Duke) and Fred Naiden and Richard Talbert (UNC Chapel Hill). Seven paper sessions are planned. In addition to paper sessions, the meeting will include the traditional opening reception and Saturday banquet. Call for papers is now open. Details are posted as they become available on the 2012 AAH Meeting page.

Ephesus as a Religious Center under the Principate
In honor of Richard E. Oster on the occasion of his 65th birthday. The conference will be held on the campus of Harding School of Theology in Memphis, Tennessee See facebook page for more information.

5/25- 5/27

The Other Temples
First Annual Conference of Hekhal: The Irish Society for the Study of the Ancient Near East

Hekhal is an academic association established by four graduates and postgraduates of Trinity College Dublin. The society's primary aim is to facilitate rigorous research in Ireland in the fields of Biblical Studies, Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies, Archaeology and Historiography, towards a more comprehensive understanding of the Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern worlds and their texts.

The role of the temple cult is extremely important for Judaism despite Deuteronomic centralisation never being fully realised. As such, other Jewish temples may offer a fruitful area for discussing the development of Judaism in the Ancient Near East. We are therefore calling for papers dealing with temple ideology and its material culture in the context of temples other than the one in Jerusalem, whether those be real ones such as Elephantine, Leontopolis or Gerizim, or conceptual ones like the Qumran Yahad or the new Jerusalem in Revelation. The committee would hope to receive submissions on topics as diverse as diaspora Judaism, early Christianity, Qumran, early Samaritan studies, and any other historiographic and/or archaeological fields of research referencing these paradigms.

Prophecy and Politics in Ancient Israel and in Ancient Cultures The Department of Biblical Studies at the University of Haifa is holding an international conference to examine the biblical prophets and prophecy in ancient cultures in general—within the geographical compass of Mesopotamia, Egypt and the Levant—from the beginnings of writing until the first century CE. The focus will be on the attitudes of ancient writers and readers to political-historical events.
A one day excursion is planned: In the footsteps of Elijah, Elisha and the necromancer of En-Dor.
More information will be forthcoming.

5/31 – 6/3

Conference on "The Christian Moses" The Catholic University of America's Center for the Study of Early Christianity will host a conference in Washington DC on the topic of the "Christian Moses." Speakers will investigate how early Christians (to the seventh century CE) used traditions associated with Moses, along with significant Jewish traditions and early Islamic references to Moses. The conference will have a single-session format to encourage maximum interaction among all participants: speakers, local and visiting scholars, and graduate students. Call for Papers Deadline is December 31, 2011More information